Air outlet device



Aug. 17, 1943. F. HoNl-:RKAMP HAL.

AIR OUTLET DEVICE s sheets-sheet 2 Filed July 9 /J -5 v y 17" PatentedAug. 17, 1943 A1B OUTLET DEVICE Friedrich lionel-kamp and Franz J.Kurth, New

York, N. Y., assignors to Anemostat Corporation o! America, acorporation o! Delaware Application-July 9, 1941, Serial No. 401,662 16Claims. (Cl. 98-40) This invention relates to air outlet devices for thedelivery of air from air supply ducts into rooms or other enclosures,and has particular reference to improvements in so-called ceiling outletdevices for the downward delivery of air into rooms or other enclosuresfrom points at or near the ceilings or tops thereof. A

Delivery of air into a room or other enclosure may be for cooling,heating or any other purpose. If fresh or treated air is delivered intoa room or other enclosure at a temperature lower than the room orenclosure air for Ventilating or cooling purposes, the delivered airfalls more or less rapidly, depending upon the diiierence in temperaturebetween the same and the room or enclosure air, and must be diused ifoccupants of the` room or other enclosure are not. to be subjected tothe sensation of draft. On the other hand, if heated air is deliveredinto a room or other enclosure for heating purposes, the heated air maybe at a considerably higher temperature than the room or enclosure airand may be delivered downwardly at a considerable velocity or in blastform from a suitable elevation above the floor'of the room or otherenclosure without subjecting occupants of the room or enclosure to anysensation of draft, as heated air does not produce the same sensation ofdraft as cool air and because, moreover, heated air, due to its tendencyto rise, must be forced downwardly and in owing downwardly spreads andbecomes more or less thoroughly mixed with the room or enclosure, airdepending upon its temperature differential, the height from which it isdelivered and its velocity.

v Many rooms or enclosures, such as auditoriums and the like and such asare found in aircraft 'factories and various other lmanufacturing orstorage plants, have exceptionally high ceilings or roofs and desirablyare ventilated or cooled and heated by air supplied from above in orderto conserve valuable space and because of various other considerations.However, air outlet de. vices as heretofore constructed and which areeffective to supply Ventilating or cooling air in desired diffused forniinto such rooms or enclosures, are not suitable for supplying heated airto such rooms or enclosures, as the heated air is not deliveredsuiiiciently far downwardly to be eiective. Separate outlet devices may,of course, be used for the delivery of fresh or treated air forVentilating or cooling purposes and warm or hot air for heatingpurposes, butvthis involves complications and high expense. Accordingly,the general object of the present invention is to provide air outletdevices which may be used for delivering either fresh orl treated airfor ventllating or cooling purposes, or heated air 'for heatingpurposes, downwardly into a room or other enclosure, and which, if usedfor delivering Ventilating or cooling air, is effective to diffuse suchair, and, if used for delivering heating air.

.is eifective to deliver the same in blast form so that it will reach alow level in the room or enclosure and thus accomplish its intendedpurposes.

With the foregoing general object in view, the invention consists in theprovision of air outlet v.devices for the purpose stated embodying thelustrated different practical forms of air outlet devices embodying thefeatures of the invention:

Figure 1 is a central, vertical section through an air outlet deviceconstructed in accordance with one practical embodiment of thelinvention.

Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 1 illustrating airoutlet devices constructed in ac` cordance with otherpracticallembodiments of the invention; andv Figure 6 is a sideelevation of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings in detail, rst with particularreference to theembodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 1, l0 designates anopen-ended, hollow, flaring member in the form of a truncated hemispherehaving at its smaller or upper open end. a neck Il for connection withan air supply duct (not shown) and provided in any suitable manner, ator near its larger or lower.

open end and at diametrically opposite points,

' with suitable bearings I2 inwhich is journaled a horizontal shaft i3which extends across the said lower open end or mouth of said member..

A second open-ended, hollow, aring member,

also in the form of a truncatedhemisphere, is designated as I4 and isslightly smaller than the member IU whereby it may be nested in saidmemy ber l0 as illustrated by full lines in the drawings.

This second member I4, at or near its larger open v end and atdiametrically opposite points, is suitably mounted on the sha-ft I3 forrotation by said shaft between its aforesaid nested position within themember il) as shown by full lines, and a position in advance of or belowsaid member l0 1n which its larger open end is disposed upwardly diatevicinity of the device.

and its smaller open end is disposed downwardly and in which it forms,in effect, a constricted downward extension of said member I0.

Preferably the smaller open end of the member I4 is at least as large-as the smaller or upper y open end or neck of the member In.Accordingly, when the member I4 is disposed in its ilrst mentioned ornested position within and in axial alinement with the member III,supplied air flowing through the neck II enters the smaller end of saidmember I4 and is free to expand therein for downward and outwarddelivery from the larger end thereof at reduced velocity and readymixing with the room-or enclosure in the imme- Therefore, when themember I4 is disposed in its nrst mentioned position the device isadapted for the delivery of fresh or treated air into a room or otherenclosure for Ventilating or cooling purposes without producing anyappreciable sensation of draft, assuming that the velocity of thesupplied air is not too great and that the temperature differentialbetween the supplied air and the room or enclosure air is not toopronounced. On the other hand, when the member I4 is rotated to itssecond mentioned position in advance of and in axial alinement with themember I0, forming in effect a constricted downward extension of themember I0, supplied air is caused to be delivered from the device inblast form. Therefore, when the member I4 is disposed in its secondmentioned position the device is adapted for the delivery of heated airinto a room or other enclosure in a manner to insure that the heated airwill reach the lower part of the room or enclosure as is desired andrequired for effective heating purposes.

The shaft I3 may be provided with' any suitable means to facilitatemanual rotation thereof to move the member I4 to either of its twooperative positions, or an electric motor or any other suitable powerdevice may be connected in any suitable manner to said shaft foreffecting power rotation thereof. Moreover, any suitable means may beprovided to retain the member I4 in either or both of its operativepositions, one means for retaining said member in its first mentionedposition being illustrated in the present instance as comprisingspring-pressed buttons I5 carried by the member I0 for engagement withdepressions I6 in the member I4.

While the device would be complete and operative if it comprised onlythe members l0 and I4, preferably it includes additional means to assistin, effecting diffusion of Ventilating or cooling air and blast deliveryof heating air. tional means may comprise, for example, a plurality ofsuccessively smaller, open-ended, hollow, iiaring members I'I disposedinwardly with respect to the member I4 and successively inwardly andspaced with respect to one another, with their smaller ends disposedtoward the smaller end of said member I4, and mounted in any suitablemanner, as upon the shaft I3, for unitary rotation with said member I4.Accordingly, when the member I4 is disposed in its first mentionedposition, the members I1 are effective to divide the supplied air into aplurality of separate streams of reduced velocity and to direct thesestreams outwardly whereby the supplied air is diiused and caused to mixin the vicinity of the device with the room or enclosure air. On theother hand, when the positions of the members I4 and I'I are reversed,as shown by the dotted lines, the members I1 assist the mem- Suchaddiber i4 in causing the air to be delivered from t device in blastform.

To facilitate mounting of the members I1 on the shaft I3, said shaft maybe composed of separate sections threadedly connected together in end toend relationship and having opposite side portions of the members IIclamped or confined between their ends. On the other hand, in order tofacilitate application and removalof the members II as a unit to andfrom the device, the sections of the shaft I3 between the member I4 andthe larger or outermost of the members I1 maybe dividedand the portionsthereof may be separably connected together in any suitable manner, asfor example, by means of sleeves I8 and cooperating fastening pins orscrews I9.

Any suitable number of the members I1 may be provided and said membersmay be of any suitable form and may be arranged in any suitable mannerin accordance with known practice as exemplified for example by KurthPatent No. 2,142,134 of January A3, 1939.

Figure 2 of the drawings illustrates that instead of providing the shaftI3 of the device with flaring members such as the members II, said shaftmay be provided with a flange or disk 20 to effect spreading ofVentilating or cooling air delivered from the device. Moreover, Fig. 2illustrates that the member I4, instead of being mounted on the shaft I3for rotation by said shaft, may be mounted on sleeves 2| which arejournaled in the bearings I2 and which have the shaft I3 extendingtherethrough and journaled therein, whereby the member I4 and the plaqueor disk 20 are rotatable independently thereof. Thus, the plaque ordisk-.may be disposed in the full line position shown in Fig. 2 todirect supplied air laterally outward when the member I4 is disposed innested relationship to the member I0, and may be disposed in the dottedline position shown in said figure so as not to interfere with thepassage of supplied air through the device when the member I4 isdisposed in advance of the member I0 for blast delivery of air d fromthe device. In other respects the device of Fig. 2 is, or may be, thesame as the device of Fig. 1. Moreover, Fig. 2 indicates that, ifdesired, the flaring members I 'I of Fig. 1 may be made ftailzblyadjustable independently of the mem- Figure 3 of the drawingsillustrates that if the shaft I3 is provided with flaring members I'I'similar to the flaring members I1 of Fig. 1, the member I4 of Fig. 1may, if desired, be eliminated if the larger of said aring member I'Ihas its larger end of a diameter and spaced from the shaft I3 a distancesuch that when said larger end is disposed uppermost-it is disposedeither in contact with or so near the member I0 as to prevent anyappreciable amount of supplied air from flowing between the same andsaid member I 0. Accordingly, the form of the invention shown in Fig. 3is the same as the form of the invention shown in Fig. 1, except thatthe member I4 of Fig. 1 is eliminated and the larger end of the largerof the flaring members I'I' is arranged to cooperate with the member Il!to direct all supplied air in blast form through the flaring members Ilwhen said flaring members are disposed with their larger ends upwardlyand their smaller ends downwardly.

According to the Fig. 4 form of the invention the construction is thesame as the construction illustrated in Fig. 1, except that the memberI4 is appreciably smaller than the member I0 so as to provide an airpassageway a between said members I and I4 when the member I4 isdisposed within the member I0. By virtue of this construction, suppliedair delivered through the member I4 creates a suction eifect in thepassageway a with the result that there is an aspirating ow of airthrough said passageway which materially assists in eiecting desiredmixing of the room or enclosure air with the supplied air. In otherwords, according to the Fig. 4 form of the invention the opening in thesmaller end of the member I4 is at least as large as the air supplyopening in the upper or smaller end of the member I0. across the mouthofthe passageway a and produces the mentioned aspirating -ow of airthrough said passageway. Alternatively, the opening in the smaller endof the member I4 might be of lesser diameter than the opening in thesmaller end of the member I0 and any suitable means might be providedtovdirect supplied air across the mouth of the passageway a to producean aspirating flow of air through said passageway.

` According to each of the embodiments of the y 1 invention illustratedin Figs. 1 to 4 vthe members I0 and I4 are of truncated hemisphericalform, but obviously this is not essential and either or both of saidmembers may be of truncated conical or equivalent form. Moreover,according to each of the embodiments of the invention illustrated inFigs. 1 to 4, the member I4 is mounted for rotation relative to themember I0 upon a shaft I3 which extends entirely across the larger endsof said members and serves as a' support for the air defiecting meanssuch as the flaring members II, I1' or the member 20. It is notnecessary, however, that the member I4 be mounted for rotation relativeto the member I0 upon a shaft that extends across the larger ends ofsaid members, nor that the air deiiecting members such as the membersI1, I1 or the member 20 be mounted upon such a shaft. On thecontrary,'the member I4 may be provided with trunriions journaled inbearings of any suitable type carried by the member Ill, and the airdeecting member or members may be mounted upon the member I4 by means ofstruts, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings. v

According to the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 ofthe drawings, the member I4 is provided in any suitable manner at ornear its larger end and at diametrically opposite points with axiallyalined trunnions I3 which are journaled in suitable bearings I2 carriedby the member I0 at or near itsv larger end, and by means of struts 22the member I4 has mounted thereon a series of successively smaller,openended, hollow flaring members I'Ia spaced suc-` cessively inwardlyof one another for controlling ow of the supplied air. In other respectsthe construction and mode of operation of the Figs( 5 and 6 embodimentof the invention is, or may be, the same as, for example, the Fig. 1embodiment of the invention.

Without further description it is thought that the features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutdepartving from the spirit of the invention and scope Therefore,supplied air ows receiving relationship to said duct for reversal todispose either the smaller or the larger ends of said members rearwardlyfor delivery of air from said duct into either the smaller or the largerends of said passageways, whereby air is delivered from said device indiffused form when the larger ends of said members are disposedforwardly and l. An air .outlet device comprising a plurality in blastform when the smaller ends of said members are disposed forwardly, andmeans cooperating with said device and said duct to cause supplied airto flow through said passageways in either. position of said device.

2. An air outletdevice comprising an openended hollow flaring member forconnection at its smalleror rear end to an air supply duct,v a unitcomprising a plurality of successively smaller, open-ended, hollow,flaring members spaced apart successively inwardly of one .another toprovide a plurality of air passageways therebetween, and means rotatablymounting said unit upon said first mentioned member for reversal withrespect to said first mentioned member to dispose either the smallerorvthe larger ends of the members of said unit rearwardly with eitherthe smaller or the larger ends of said passageways in receivingrelationship to air delivered through said rst mentioned member, wherebyair is delivered from said unit in diffused form when the larger endsofthe members of said unit are disposed forwardly and in blast'form whenthe smaller ends of said members are disposed forwardly, said unit beingmounted with respect to said first mentioned flaring member so that whenthe larger ends of the flaring members .of said unit are disposedrearwardly the larger end of the largest aring member of said unit isdisposed within and substantially snugly ts said first mentioned memberwhereby substantially all supplied air is caused to ilow through saidpassageways for delivery in blast form from said unit.

3. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow membersubstantially in the form of a truncated hemisphere for connection` atits smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, and a smaller butotherwise similar member pivotally mounted at its larger end upon thelarger or forward end portion of said first mentioned member-forrotation between a nested position within said rst mentioned member withits smaller end disposed rearwardly and its larger end disposedforwardly and a position in advance of said first mentioned member withits larger end disposed rearwardly and its smaller end disposedforwardly, whereby in the rst instance supplied air passing through saidmembers is permitted to expand and in the second instance supplied airis caused to be delivered from the device in blast form.

4. An airloutlet device comprising an openended hollow membersubstantially in the form of a truncateed hemisphere for connection atits smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, a smaller but otherwisesimilarl member pi'votally mounted at its larger end upon the larger orforwardend portion of said first mentioned member' for rotation betweena nested position within said rst mentioned member with its smaller enddisposed rearwardly and its larger end disposed forwardly and a.position in advance of said first mentioned member with its larger enddisposed rearwardly and its smaller end disposed forwardly, and aplurality of open-ended hollow flaring members mounted nl spaced apartrelationship to each other within said second mentioned member forrotation therewith, said plurality of open-ended hollow flaring membershaving their larger and smaller ends disposed toward the larger and thesmaller ends, respectively, of said second mentioned member whereby airis delivered from the.

device in dilfused form when` said second mentoned member is in its rstmentioned position relative to said first mentioned member and in blastform whensaid second mentioned member is in its second mentionedposition relative to said first mentioned member.

5. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow membersubstantially in the form of a truncated hemisphere for connection ai;its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, a smaller but otherwisesimilar member pivotally mounted at its larger end upon the larger orforward end portion of said first mentioned member for rotation betweena nested position within said iirst mentioned member with its smallerend disposed rearwardly and its larger end disposed forwardly and aposition in advance of said first mentioned member with its larger enddisposed rearwardly and its smaller end disposed forwardly, whereby inthe first instance supplied air passing through said members ispermitted to expand and in the second instance supplied air is caused tobe delivered from the device in blast form, and means to deiiect airflowing through said smaller member, said means being mounted forrotation between air deecting and air non-deflecting positions relativeto said smaller member.

6. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an 'air supply duct, and

a smaller hollow flaring member pivotally mounted at its larger end uponthe larger or forward end portion of said first mentioned member forrotation between a nested position within said rst mentioned member withits smaller end disposed rearwardly and its larger end disposedforwardly and a position in advance of said iirst mentioned member withits larger end disposed rearwardly and its smaller end disposedforwardly, whereby in the first instance supplied air passing throughsaid members is permitted to expand and in the second instance suppliedair is caused to be delivered from the device in blast form, saidsmaller member being of a size so that when it is in its rst mentionedposition it is spaced from said first mentioned member to provide an airaspirating passageway between said members, and the smaller open end ofsaid smaller member being at least as large as the smaller open end ofsaid first mentioned member so that when said smaller member is in itsfirst mentioned position supplied air delivered through the smallermember produces aspiration in said aspirating passageway.

'7. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, a shaftextending across the larger or air outlet end of said member, and aplurality of successively smaller open-ended hollow flaring membersspacedapart successively inwardly of one another to provide airpassageways therebetween, said members being mounted on said shaft forroasaaess tation between a position in which their smaller ends aredisposedrearwardly and a position in which their larger ends aredisposed rearwardly, whereby in the first instance air delivered fromsaid device is diffused and in the second instance air is delivered fromsaid device in blast form.

8. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, a shaftextending across the larger or air outlet end of said member, and airilow control means mounted on said shaft for rotation'to di'erentoperative positions, said shaft comprising a plurality of separablyconnected sections to facilitate application, removal andinterchangeability of said air flow -control means.

9. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, asmaller open-ended hollow flaring member, bearings carried by one ofsaid members adjacent to its larger end and trunnions carried -by theother of said members adjacent to its larger end and journaled in saidbearings whereby said smaller member is mounted upon said larger memberfor rotation between a. nested position within said first member withits smaller end disposed rearwardly and its larger end disposedforwardly and a position in. advance of said larger member with itslarger end disposed rearwardly and its smaller end disposed forwardly,at least one open-ended hollow flaring air flow control member disposedwithin said smaller member, and struts mounting said air flow controlmember upon said smaller member.

10. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or reanend to an air supply duct, and asmaller open ended hollow flaring member pivotally mounted at its largerend upon the larger or forward end portion of said iirst mentionedmember for rotation between a nested position within said firstmentioned member with its smaller end disposed rearwardly and its largerend disposed forwardly and a position in advance of said iirst mentionedmember with its larger end disposed rearwardly and its smaller enddisposed forwardly, whereby in the first instance supplied air passingthrough said members is permitted to expand and in the second instancesupplied air is caused to be delivered from the device in blast form,said smaller member being of a size so that when it is in its ilrstmentioned position it is spaced from said first mentioned member toprovide between said members a passageway through which an aspiratlngflow of air is produced by the flow of supplied air through saidmembers.

11. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, and asmaller but otherwise similar member pivotally mounted at its larger endupon the larger or forward end portion of said first mentioned memberfor rotation between a position with its smaller` end disposedrearwardly and its larger end disposed forwardly relative to said firstmentioned member and a position with its larger end disposed rearwardlyand its smaller end disposed forwardly with respect to said rstmentioned member, whereby in the first instance supplied air passingthrough said members is permitted to expand and in the second instancesupplied air is caused to be delivered from the device in blast form.

12. An air outlet device comprising an openendedhollow member forconnection at one end to an air supply duct, an open-ended hollowflaring member, and shaft means extending transversely with respect tosaid members and pivotally mounting said second mentioned member uponsaid rst mentioned member for rotation between a position withitssmaller end disposed rearwardly and in air receiving 'relationship tosaid first mentioned member and a position with its larger end disposedrearwardly and in air receiving relationship to said rst mentionedmember, whereby in the iirstl instance supplied air ilowing through saidmembers is permitted to expand in said second mentioned member and inthe second instance supplied air flowing through said members is causedto be delivered from said second mentioned member in blast form.

13. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, and asmaller open-ended hollow flaring member pivotally mounted at its largerend upon the larger or forward end portion of said first mentionedmember for rotation between a position nested within said firstmentioned member with its smaller end disposed rearwardly and its largerend disposed forwardly and a position in advance of said first mentionedmember with its larger end disposed rearwardly and its smaller enddisposed forwardly, whereby in the rst instance supplied air flowingthrough said members is permitted to expand and in the second instancesupplied air flowing through said members is caused by said secondmentioned member to be delivered from the devicel in blast form.

14. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air supply duct, a unitcomprising a plurality of successively smaller, open-ended, hollow,flaring members spaced apart successively inwardly of one another toprovide a plurality of air passageways therebetween, and

to said first mentioned member to dispose either the smaller or thelarger ends of the members of said unit rearwardly with either thesmaller or the larger ends of said passageways in receiving relationshipto air delivered through said rst mentioned member, whereby air isdelivered from said unit in diffused form when the larger ends of themembers of said unit are disposed forwardly and in blast form when thesmaller ends of said members are disposed forwardly.

15. An air outlet device comprising an openended hollow :flaring memberfor connection at its smaller or rear end to an air ,supply duct, asecond open-ended hollow flaring member, and pivot means mounting saidsecond mentioned member upon the larger or front end portion of saidfirst mentioned member for rotation to dispose either `the smaller orthe larger end of said second mentioned member rearwardly in airreceiving relationship to said first mentioned member, said pivot meansbeing disposed with respect 16. An air outlet device comprising anopenended hollow flaring member for connection at its smaller or rearend to an air supply duct, a second open-ended hollow flaringmember,pivot means mounting said second mentioned member upon the larger orfront end portion of said first mentioned member for rotation to disposeeither the smaller or the larger end of said second mentioned memberrearwardly in air receiving relationship to said iirst mentioned member,at least one other open-ended hollow daring member spaced inwardly fromsaid second mentioned member, and strut means mounting said lastmentioned member upon said second mentioned member.

' FRIEDRICH HONERKAMP.

FRANZ J. KURTH.

